Custom Computers & Gaming Machines

Posted on March 15, 2016April 29, 2024 by Gail Eddy in Data Transfer, Desktop, Hard Drive, Laptops, Printer, Tips

One of the services we provide is to build custom computers from scratch. (Gaming machines are almost, by design, custom computers.) Chris is building one now for a long-time customer. In fact, this is the second machine we’ve built for this particular customer!

Process for building Custom Computers:

First, Chris talks with the customer about what their goals are:

What do they hope to use this computer for?
How much storage should it have?
Required software?
Should this be a portable computer or one that stays in the office?
What is the budget?

Next, when Chris has a good understanding of what the requirements are, he does some research to determine exactly which parts need to be ordered. Often times there is a choice to be made between two or more options. He has a conversation with the customer to decide which will best meet their needs. Once all the parts have been decided, he sends the list (with all the order links) to the customer for ordering.

When the parts arrive, it looks a little chaotic for a while, but then it all comes together!

You can hear the excitement in Chris’ words about building a new custom computer:

“One of my special joys is to design and build full custom computers. This one is for a customer who is still using the last full custom computer I made for them about 5 years or so ago.

There are several special features in the design, but one of the special results is absolutely Smokin-Hot processor performance: using a modern 4-core processor and water cooling, the stock speed is 4Ghz on each of the 4 cores.

To make sure things are thermally stable, I’ve been running a CPU heating utility, which launches 8 CPU-intensive processes all running in parallel, and after about 1H the cooler is only warm to the touch with a slight increase in overall fan sound. Nice!

Note: I took this picture after the computer was on for about 10 minutes, but /before/ the burn-in process was started.”

This custom computer is almost ready to be delivered to the customer!

I’ve created a Free Report to protect you from “phishing” scams. Click here to receive it!

INFORMATION ABOUT GEEK FOR HIRE, INC.

Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has provided computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PCs for the past eighteen years. Angie’s List and the BBB rate Geek For Hire very highly. You can find more on our website or give us a call at 303-618-0154. Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3 support) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area and remote service throughout North America.

Here’s a link to our Covid19 Policy.

We’ve been using Amazon Prime for the past few years. We like the free and fast shipping. With Prime, we have access to online streaming too. Prime is usually $119/year, but you can get a free 30-day trial by clicking on this link: Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Free Substitutes

Posted on March 8, 2016April 29, 2024 by Gail Eddy in Linux, Mac's, Microsoft, Tips, Windows 7

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I can’t believe how expensive everything is getting! When I look at the prices for different software, I am astounded! So, with that in mind, here are some Office Suite products you can download for free instead of buying the latest version of Microsoft Office. (All of these say they will work with Windows, OS-X, and Linux.)

OpenOffice:

For common office software like spreadsheets and word processing, many people like and use OpenOffice. Here’s the description from the Apache website:

“Apache OpenOffice is the leading open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It is available in many languages and works on all common computers. It stores all your data in an international open standard format and can also read and write files from other common office software packages. It can be downloaded and used completely free of charge for any purpose.”

Head to the OpenOffice website for more info.

LibreOffice:

The Document Foundation’s LibreOffice is another office suite. Here’s the description from their website:

“LibreOffice is a powerful office suite; its clean interface and powerful tools let you unleash your creativity and grow your productivity. LibreOffice embeds several applications that make it the most powerful Free & Open Source Office suite on the market: Writer, the word processor, Calc, the spreadsheet application, Impress, the presentation engine, Draw, our drawing and flowcharting application, Base, our database and database frontend, and Math for editing mathematics.”

More info here.

Caligra Office:

Yet another Office Suite. According to their website:

“Calligra Suite is a set of applications written to help you to accomplish your work. Calligra includes efficient and capable office components: Words for text processing, Sheets for coputations, Stage for presentations, Plan for planning, Flow for flowcharts, and Kexi for database creation. In addition, Calligra offers cutting edge applications for artists to work on 2D drawings and illustrations: Krita for painting and raster drawing, and Karbon for vector graphics.

More here.

Chris has been using OpenOffice for years and can provide some training if needed.

Note: Some of these applications require that you have Java installed.

Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has been providing computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PC’s for the past fourteen years. His company is highly rated by both the BBB (Better Business Bureau) and by Angie’s List. You can find more at http://www.GeekForHireInc.com Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area.

How do I … (fill-in-the-blank)…?

Posted on February 23, 2016April 29, 2024 by Gail Eddy in Apple, Desktop, iMac, Mac's, Microsoft, PC's, Tips, Win10, Windows 10, Windows 8

How-To Books:

Like a lot of our customers, I try to figure things out for myself before I call in outside support and training. That is doubly true for learning new software and applications. If my friends can’t help, I type my request into Google. If that doesn’t work, I head to the bookstore. With that in mind, here are some books we recommend:

If you’re trying to learn Windows 10:

Windows 10: The Missing Manual by David Pogue. I became a fan of Mr. Pogue’s books when I got my first iPhone. I’ve long since moved on from that phone, but the book is still on my shelf.
Teach Yourself VISUALLY Windows 10 (Teach Yourself VISUALLY (Tech)) by Paul McFedries is another good one. I’m a visual person and like to see lots of pictures. The “Visually” series is very helpful for me.

If you can’t figure out your Windows 8 machine:

Windows 8 Quick Reference Guide (Cheat Sheet of Instructions, Tips & Shortcuts – Laminated) by Beezix Inc. is a handy reference guide to keep on the wall near your computer.
Windows 8.1 For Dummies Book + DVD Bundle by Andy Rathbone is another helpful Dummies guide.
Top 100 Tips for Windows 8: Discover the Secrets of Windows 8 by Tim Sievers is also recommended.

If you need help learning how to navigate on your new Mac:

OS X El Capitan For Dummies by Bob LeVitus. I love the “Dummies” books. They’re always easy to understand and straightforward.
Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, El Capitan Edition by David Pogue. Yup, another very helpful Missing Manual book.

Microsoft Office

Microsoft Office 2013 Essentials Quick Reference Guide (Cheat Sheet of Instructions, Tips & Shortcuts – Laminated Card) by Beezix Inc. This is another laminated guide to keep near your desk.
Office 2016 All-In-One For Dummies (Office All-in-One for Dummies) by Peter Weverka. This All-in-One guide covers each of the applications included in the Office Suite. From Word and Excel, to Outlook and PowerPoint. It even includes Access! This is for the newest version of Office.

Open Office:

I’m trying to find a great book to recommend on using OpenOffice, a replacement for the (fairly expensive) Windows Office Suite. If there is a book that you love, please share the title with me and let me know why it’s so great!

Windows 10 Update

Posted on February 16, 2016May 2, 2024 by Gail Eddy in Data Backup, Hard Drive, Microsoft, Passwords, PC's, Tips, Win10, Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows XP

Upgrading to Windows 10?

We continue to see machines that have upgraded to Windows 10 with serious problems. And, I continue to get asked if machines should be upgraded.

Here’s the scoop:

If you have a Windows 7 machine, don’t upgrade unless you have a serious business need.
If you have a Windows 8 machine, you should be okay to upgrade, although you may still experience some issues
If you have a Windows XP or earlier machine, don’t (DO NOT!) upgrade. Consider purchasing a new machine with Windows 8 or 10 already installed.

If you’re planning to upgrade do this first:

Back up your data. Use an external Hard Drive if you have one, or upload to the Cloud
Make sure you have a list of all the programs and applications that you use.
Make sure you know what all of your passwords are, especially if you have asked your computer to remember them for you.
Make sure you know what your WiFi Router password is.

Tired of the Win10 “Nag” message?

I asked Chris how to get rid of the message that pops up frequently reminding you to UPGRADE NOW! WHILE IT’S STILL FREE!. Here’s what he said:

“The only reliable method I’ve found so far to prevent a machine from presenting the “Get Windows 10 Upgrade” (GWX) nag message is to rename the GWX folder which contains the upgrade program.
- See a small window icon in the tray, to the left of the clock in the task bar.
- Go to the folder: “C:\Windows\System32” /and/ the “C:\Windows\SysWOW64”
- Rename the “GWX” folder to something else – such as: “_GWX”, if it exists in either folder. Note that you will see a popup titled “Folder Access Denied” and the message “You’ll need to provide administrator permission to rename this folder”. Click on the “Continue” button to proceed with renaming the GWX folder.
- Reboot your machine.
- See that the small window icon is not present, and note that it does /not/ reappear”

If you have any questions about upgrading, give us a call

Heads UP!

Posted on February 9, 2016September 4, 2016 by Gail Eddy in Data Backup, Tips

Heads Up folks!

I’ve gotten three calls this week from people who have fallen victim to the phone calls from “Microsoft”. The person on the other end of the phone is very convincing. Within the first minute or two, you just know that they are right. You do have spyware or viruses on your computer and you’ve given them your credit card info and let them onto to your machine.

Then there is the phone call that I keep getting and wrote about in a previous blog. https://geekforhireinc.com/who-is-really-calling/ They leave a message that says:

“This call is in regards to the security software we installed on your computer last year. Now we see a red flag on our end stating there is a security breach on it. Please call 1-866-758-1262. I repeat, 1-866-758-1262. Thank you.”

Please be aware that these types of calls are on the rise and they are getting better about fooling you. I’ve said it before – Microsoft, Apple, Dell, or HP won’t call you to tell you that your machine has been infected. Don’t give these people access to your computer or your credit card info!

Be careful out there folks!

Snow Day – perfect time to organize your computer files!

Posted on February 2, 2016May 2, 2024 by Gail Eddy in Data Backup, Tips

With the beautiful weather outside, it’s hard to concentrate on getting any work done. The view from the deck outside of my home office is breathtaking – see for yourself:

Snow Day at the Eddy's! — Snow Day at the Eddy’s!

A day like today might be a good day to clean up your computer files!

Organize your photos:

I don’t know about you, but I don’t always put my files where I can easily find them again. Especially my photos! Every once in a while I’ll organize my photos by date. I generally use the year and month. I put the year first so that when the computer sorts the files by name, they’ll remain in date order. If there are a lot of photos from a particular day or event, they’ll get their own file folder.

For example, my files might look like this:
- 2016-02-February
- 2016-01-January
- 2015
  - 2015-12-December
  - 2015-11-November
  - 2015-11-November – Thanksgiving Vacation
  - 2015-10-October
  - etc., etc.

Once I get the file structure organized, I simply drag and drop the photos to the correct folder. At the same time, I might also rename some of the photos too. Then it’s much easier to search for (and find) the photo of Auntie Em from among the hundreds of photos I took last Thanksgiving.

If I didn’t name the folders by date with the year first, but instead used the month first, when the computer sorted the folders based on name, it would end up looking like this:

April 2015
April 2014
August 2015
August 2014
December 2015
December 2014
February 2016
February 2015
February 2014
January 2016
January 2015
January 2014
July 2015
July 2014
June 2015
June 2014
etc, etc.

… and that wouldn’t be very helpful at all.

To rename a photo file, simple place your cursor on the file. Then you can double click on it to rename it, or press the F2 button. Give it a new name that is meaningful to you. That will make it easier to find it later.

Organize your Computer Files:

When you store documents on your computer, it’s important to file them in such a way that you are able to find them again. I’ve watched while friends have downloaded a file or photo from the internet and it goes straight into the “Downloads” folder without even getting a new name! There are hundreds of files in there. How will you ever be able to find that pdf again when its name is “2848066_orig.pdf”? I would suggest setting up your files in a way that makes sense to you.

For example, you could try something like:

Family
- Dick
- Jane
- Sally
- Tom
Home
Photos
- 2016
- 2015
- 2014
Recipes
- Beverages
- Desserts
- Main Meals
Work

Then when you need to find a file, you’ll have a much easier time of it!

How do you get motivated on a day like today?

Are You Thinking of Using a Password Manager?

Posted on January 26, 2016February 2, 2016 by Gail Eddy in Cloud, Hackers, Passwords, Phishing, Tips

I am of two minds when it comes to an online password manager. On the one hand, I think it would be a great way to keep multiple passwords secure. On the other hand, I worry about hackers gaining control of my data.

That being said, if your keyboard (or monitor) looks like this, it’s time to find another solution!

Luckily, there are several online password managers to choose from:

1Password
Dashlane
LastPass
KeePassX
mSecure
Sticky Password

Most of these have the same or similar features.

Manage passwords over multiple devices
Generates ultra strong passwords
Stores banking and other sensitive information
Most are free but do have an annual or monthly fee for certain upgrades
Some utilize the iPhone fingerprint to confirm your identity

Even with a secure password manager, you still need to be careful of “spoofing”, where a fraudulent web page is displayed to trick you into providing your super-secure password key as described in this article:

Which password manager do you use? What are its best features? What don’t you like? Let us know in the comments below!

Computer and Phone Scams to watch for

Posted on January 19, 2016May 17, 2021 by Gail Eddy in Malware, Security, Tips

Computer and phone scams are rampant if my voice mail is any judge. For the last few weeks I’ve been getting a voice mail message with the following recording:

We’ve also received phone calls from regular people like you or me who fell victim to these scams.

Whenever you receive a call on your home or mobile phone from a number that you do not recognize, be extra careful. Dell or Microsoft or Toshiba or even Apple won’t be calling you to tell you that your computer has a virus. When you get this kind of call, your spider-sense should be tingling!

Some of these computer and phone scams are very sophisticated. There are times though when you answer the phone and the person on the other end is very convincing. You might believe them and agree that they can access your computer remotely. Then when you hang up the phone you have second thoughts.

What steps should you take if you think you’ve been scammed?

Turn your machine off.
Disconnect the internet from your machine. You may need to unplug the Ethernet cable from your machine or turn off the router if you have wireless service.
Turn your machine back on and confirm that your anti-virus is still working and is still installed.
Start your virus scanner. It should tell you whether any malware has been installed, and it should remove those programs.
Once your virus scanner has completed and has removed any potential threats, you can reconnect your internet.
For the next few days be very cautious about how you use your machine. For example, it would be prudent not to enter any financial or banking information on that machine – use your phone or iPad instead. If the machine doesn’t show any signs of continued infection, it should be fine. If it starts displaying pop-ups or becomes very slow, it’s time to call in a professional to do a thorough scrub of the machine.

You can find other symptoms of an infected machine here:

INFORMATION ABOUT GEEK FOR HIRE, INC.

I’ve created a Free Report to protect you from “phishing” scams. Click here to receive it!

Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has provided computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PCs for the past eighteen years. Angie’s List and the BBB rate Geek For Hire very highly. You can find more on our website, or give us a call at 303-618-0154. Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3 support) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area and remote service throughout North America.

Here’s a link to our Covid19 Policy.

Top 10 Ways to Use Siri

Posted on December 29, 2015May 6, 2024 by Gail Eddy in iPad, iPhone, Siri, Tips

I hope everyone is enjoying their holidays. With New Years Eve just around the corner, I’m giving this post another go! Happy New Year everyone!

I’ve had a number of friends tell me recently that Siri is worthless and never gets anything right. “And besides,” they say, “I can just do it faster myself than asking Siri!”

Granted, Siri had her challenges when she was first rolled out, and many of them remain. But if you just ask her to do simple tasks, she’ll generally get them right.

Here are ten things I frequently use Siri for:

Call people: For example, ask Siri to call your Mom. (If you haven’t set up relationships within your contact settings, here’s an article that teaches you how to do that.)
Email people
Text people: I especially like this feature. I will dictate the message to Siri and she’ll type and send it.
Set timers and alarms Just be aware that Siri sometimes hears “60” as “16”. I will instead ask for a timer for “61 minutes”.
Check on the weather
Show most recently received email
Search emails: You can find emails with specific text in them or emails from a specific person
Find out the time and weather in another city: Don’t forget, these are two separate questions!
1. Siri, what time is it in London?
2. Siri, show me the weather forecast in London.
Search for a local business When you ‘re looking for a specific business, ask Siri to look it up for you. She’ll generally respond with a map and all of their contact information.
Open an application on your phone: Simply ask Siri to open the map application or the FitBit application, etc.
Tell you a bedtime story:

Siri still has her flaws, but if you know what they are and can work around them, she’ll serve you well. (In a limited capacity!)

How do you use Siri? Let us know if the comments below!

Information about Geek For Hire, Inc.

I’ve created a Free Report on what to look for to protect yourself from “phishing” scams. Click here to receive it!

Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has been providing computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PCs for the past eighteen years. Angie’s List and the BBB rate Geek For Hire very highly. You can find more on our website, or give us a call 303-618-0154. Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3 support) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area as well as remote service throughout North America.

A Look Back at 2015 in Technology

Posted on December 22, 2015May 2, 2024 by Gail Eddy in Computer History, Hackers, Siri, Tips

Every year there are new developments in the Technology world, and 2015 was no exception. Here are just a few:

VR Headset – At the CES 2015 show in January, no one expected Virtual Reality for the masses to be available this year. They were wrong! Announced in time for Black Friday, Oculus as released a headset that works exclusively with the Samsung Galaxy smartphone. More info here:

iWatch – Apple has been developing their watch since 2011 and it was finally available in the spring of this year. Reviews on the different tech sites that review these things have been mixed. Reviews by Amazon consumers are much higher.

Intel Skylake – Chris is pretty excited about the new 6th generation Intel Core Processor. He says it will run better on mobile technology. Do you know what the 1st generation was? Check out this article and astonish your geeky friends!

Tesla – Chris is also excited about the new Ludicrous upgrade to the Tesla Model S P90DL. Well, anything that takes you from zero to sixty in under three seconds has got to be worthy of some salivation! Here’s a link to DragTimes video.

Car Hacking – This was a big story this past spring. Computers in cars are pretty ubiquitous now and are just as susceptible to hacking as other computers are. The difference here is that car manufacturers don’t seem concerned and are not doing what they could to make their systems more secure. A previous blog about a report released by Senator Ed Markey has more information.

DieselGate – Earlier this year we found out that VW and Audi installed software on many of its 2009-2015 diesel models that would essential “cheat” emissions tests. From this NYTimes article “The software sensed when the car was being tested and then activated equipment that reduced emissions, United States officials said. But the software turned the equipment off during regular driving, increasing emissions far above legal limits, possibly to save fuel or to improve the car’s torque and acceleration.” There’s more info here: Late last month, VW announced their fix for the diesel engines. Automotive News describes the modifications that will need to be made here.

What do you were the most significant technology announcements in 2015? Share in the comments below!

Information about Geek For Hire, Inc.

I’ve created a Free Report on what to look for to protect yourself from “phishing” scams. Click here to receive it!